Studies in the Transmission and Reception of Old Norse Literature
The Hyperborean Muse in European Culture
Edited by Judy Quinn Edited by Maria Adele Cipolla
Interest in Old Norse literature is charted as it spread beyond the academies of Europe out to a wide reading and viewing public. The influence of the hyperborean muse is evident throughout – affecting editors as well as artists – as the idea of early Nordic culture has been refashioned to suit contemporary ideals.
The compelling world of the Vikings and their descendants, preserved in the sagas, poetry, and mythology of medieval Iceland, has been an important source of inspiration to artists and writers across Europe, as well as to scholars devoted to editing and interpreting the manuscript texts. A variety of creative ventures have been born of the processes of imagining this distant ‘hyperborean’ world. The essays in this volume, by scholars from Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, and the UK, examine the scholarly and artistic reception of a variety of Old Norse texts from the beginnings of the manuscript tradition in twelfth-century Iceland to contemporary poetry, crime fiction, and graphic novels produced in Britain, Ireland, Italy, and Iceland. The influence of Old Norse literature is further explored in the context of Shakespeare’s plays, eighteenth-century Italian opera, the Romantic movement in Sweden and Denmark, and the so-called ‘nordic renaissance’ of the late nineteenth century (including the works of August Strindberg and William Morris), as well as in some of the political movements of twentieth-century northern Europe. Interest in Old Norse literature is charted as it spread beyond intellectual centres in Europe and out to a wider reading and viewing public. The influence of the ‘hyperborean muse’ is evident throughout this book, as the idea of early Nordic culture has been refashioned to reflect contemporary notions and ideals.
- Edited by Judy Quinn
- Edited by Maria Adele Cipolla
Other Titles in this Series
Myth, Magic, and Memory in Early Scandinavian Narrative Culture
Studies in Honour of Stephen A. Mitchell
Volume 11
The Cult of St Erik in Medieval Sweden
Veneration of a Royal Saint, Twelfth-Sixteenth Centuries
Volume 5
Sainthood, Scriptoria, and Secular Erudition in Medieval and Early Modern Scandinavia
Essays in Honour of Kirsten Wolf
Volume 13
Old Norse Myths as Political Ideologies
Critical Studies in the Appropriation of Medieval Narratives
Volume 9
Myths and Magic in the Medieval Far North
Realities and Representations of a Region on the Edge of Europe
Volume 10
Similar Books
A Late Antique Harrowing of Hell and Its Medieval Reception
Eusebius of Alexandria's Sermons 15 and 17 (CPG 5524; 5526) and their Latin Rewritings
Volume 99
Ars Prophetica
Theology in the Poetry of Twentieth-Century Hebrew Poets Avraham Halfi, Shin Shalom, Amir Gilboa, and T. Carmi
Behind the Scenes of Medieval Roofs
An Overview of the Roofing Systems of Italian Churches
Volume 90
Innovation and Medieval Communities
The Circulation of Ideas and Practices in and out of the Town (1200-1500)
Volume 63
Medieval Debates on Foreknowledge: Future Contingents, Prophecy, and Divination
Acts of the XXVII Annual Colloquium of the SIEPM, Trento 12-15 September 2023
Volume 31
Medieval Yeghegis, Armenia
History, Archaeology, Society. Local Multiplicities and Global Connections of a Rural Centre on the Silk Road(s)
Power and Women in Southeast and Central Europe in Late Medieval and Early Modern Period (1300-1600)
Volume 10
Tradition, Interpretation, and Change
Developments in the Liturgy of Medieval and Early Modern Ashkenaz
